Just about to order a chain & sprocket kit. Bit pissed off to be honest. Current sprockets look in really good nick but had a slight knocking sound when under load at slow speeds and on further inspection I’ve got one seized link in the chain. Tried freeing it but nope! It’s not having any of it. As much as I’d love to order a nice bling renthal set, I’m not paying close to £300 for the kit alone so just going for DID. Question is. Do I go a tooth less on the front?
Just to ponder the communities opinion, are you town riding mainly? Seeking low speed weaving through traffic...why'd you want to change the ratio
Well from memory people change two teeth down on the rear, rather than one off the front sprocket. But I wait to be corrected'
You could just buy a new master link from the manufacturer of the chain you currently have , and cut out the link that has gone bad on you . Have you got access to a good chain tool ? [ It might need something that can do the quad staking business ] .... just a thought
That seems pricey for a chain and sprockets - where are you getting them from? Edit Never mind - I read it wrong - £300 is what you aren’t paying!
Mine ironically was up a tooth on the front (i think at some point one of the owners did track days on it) so was geared more for top end but it still wheelies off the throttle in 1st 2nd and 3rd so id say going down it would be uncontrollable...
I run std 15 front & 1 up rear, if nicely mapped gearing is not too tall. Plus reducing front increases wear on the front.
I’ve had a very good chain tool that I’ve used on a fair few chains in the past ( it wasn’t cheap either ) I tried to extract the offending link earlier. At first just to free it of as I wondered if it might be the link someone may of took to with a lump and ball pain to join it in the past. It was as if the chain link was made of tungsten and the extractor tool was made of chocolate!
Generally (and very generally) Ducatis are over-geared. Because the front sprocket has so few teeth anyway, I am more inclined to leave front sprocket standard and go up 2 teeth on the back. That means a slightly longer chain. If you are supplied with a longer chain and have to take links out, it is worth doing the sprockets first and then checking in real life how short to make the chain.
Yeah Hoot. But all I was trying to do was free that link up. It really is as if someone’s welded the fucker! Just that one link. Like I say the sprockets look like new still so might just throw a new chain on for now and save some pennies for a renthal set up in the future.
If the sprockets aren't worn and it's just the chain that's at fault then, as you say, just put in a new chain although I'm surprised you couldn't get the link out once the ends were ground off. Even just grinding off the end of the pin on the outside will make it easier to push the pin through.
What happens to get a frozen link, is that one or other of the internal seals has failed. That allows the internal lubricant to escape and water to ingress...that corrodes the roller and pin and leads to a partial seizure. It cannot be 'unseized' The only cure is replacement. If money is tight, you could just replace the frozen link with another joining link...but I would not do that on my bike. The theory says that a properly jointed link is as strong as the rest of the chain...but there is a lot of strain goes through a drive chain, it gets hot, it gets cold, it stretches, it reforms....I would change the chain as a complete thing. If the sprockets look good, you may get away with leaving those in place, but it's generally not considered good practice ...then again popping a wheelie is not good practice either ( by the old bill at least) lol, but we have all done that
